With Media In Tehran Under Pressure, Iran International At Top Spot

Retirees in several cities, including Esfahan and Arak in central Iran as well as southern cities of Shush, Shushtar, Hafttapeh, and Ahvaz, gathered outside governors' offices or provincial offices of Iran’s Social Security Organization to denounce the government's move to ignore decrees by the Supreme Labor Council, which had stipulated a 38-percent increase in the minimum wage. They are demanding pension increases on par with rising prices of essential foods. 

The protests took place as temperature has risen to more than 50 degrees Celsius – about 122 in Fahrenheit scale – in many cities across the southwestern oil-rich Khuzestan province. 

A union for contract workers of the oil sector said on August 6, that 35 workers of Abadan refinery in southern Iran passed out due to the heat, and were taken to hospital.

Amid a dire economic situation in Iran that has been worsening in recent months, at least 10 workers have committed suicide in the last three months due to dismissal from their jobs and "livelihood problems".

With food prices rising faster after four years of United States’ ‘maximum pressure’ sanctions, Iranian workers and retirees have been holding regular protests or strikes to demand higher salaries. In June, Iran’s currency fell to a historic low of 333,000 rials to the US dollar.

During the past weeks, widespread protests by workers,shop owners, and teachers protesting against poverty, inflation, and low wages, have been met with heavy-handed crackdown and numerous arrests by the security forces.

In phone call with Josep Borrell, Amir-Abdollahian reiterated that all parties involved in the talks must take serious steps toward reaching the final text of an agreement, while four days of talks in Vienna ended with a “final” text presented by the EU to all parties.

Iran insists that the text offered for renewing the 2015 nuclear deal is not a final agreement but European officials described the document to journalists as a ‘take it or leave it’ offer for both sides. American and Iranian diplomats left Vienna Monday after the European chair of talks offered a fresh and “final” text for renewing the deal.

“Iran’s views and considerations on the ideas offered by [Borrell’s deputy] Enrique Mora have been conveyed to him and all parties [to the deal] are expected to show seriousness and resolve in order to achieve the final text of the agreement,” Amir-Abdollahian said.

Expressing hope that the path to a final agreement would be paved through realism, he added that any final agreement must meet the rights and interests of the Iranian nation and guarantee sustainable and effective removal of sanctions on the Islamic Republic. 

According to IRNA, Borrell said he believes that relative progress has been made during the latest round of the talks, which he described as positive. Borrell also said he would continue efforts to bring the viewpoints of all parties closer to reach a good result.

According to a document released on Monday, the Bureau of Industry and Security Office of Export Enforcement issued an administrative charging letter against Far East Cable on July 29, 2022. 

"The Charging Letter alleges that Far East Cable signed contracts with Zhongxing Telecommunications Equipment Corporation (ZTE), and Iranian telecommunications companies to deliver US-origin equipment to Iran as part of an effort to conceal and obfuscate ZTE’s Iranian business from US investigators," the document read, charging Far East Cable with 18 violations of Export Administration Regulations.

From September 2014 to January 2016, Far East Cable served as a cutout between ZTE which was under investigation by the US government for connections with Iranian telecommunications companies. 

In March 2017, ZTE pleaded guilty for its conduct related to these charges and broader violations of US export controls. ZTE paid a combined penalty of $1.19 billion in criminal and administrative fines at the time.

In July, the US Treasury issued sanctions on a new array of individuals and entities that help the Islamic Republic of Iran sell its petroleum and petrochemical products, and in June, the US sanctioned several Chinese, Emirati and Iranian firms over exporting the country’s petrochemicals.

Gholamreza Ansari said in an interview with the Iranian Labor News Agency (ILNA) that these reactionaries have created a situation in which social crises could explode like grenades at any moment.

He was referring to a serious economic crisis triggered by US sanctions and the failure to reach a nuclear deal that could free Iran of the economic pressure.

Ansari, who has post-graduate degrees both in sciences and social sciences held various government positions during reformist governments and was an ambassador to Turkmenistan.

He argued that the reactionary elements also known as "the concerned groups" entrenched themselves in ultraconservative governments of Presidents Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Ebrahim Raisi.

One example of these reactionaries, routinely singled out by critics is Iran's Housing Minister Rostam Ghasemi, who during religious mourning events this week suddenly spoke against nuclear talks to restore the Iran nuclear deal. Ghasemi used religious rhetoric to emphasize intransigence rather than compromise.

In an August 7 tweet, Ghasemi likened the United States to Shemr, the man who beheaded the Shiite Imam Hussain in the year 680 AD, while also likening Iran to Imam Hussain. He quoted Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and President Ebrahim Raisi as having said that the United States is not trustworthy as a partner to any agreement.

On the previous day, the reformist daily Sharq quoted Ghasemi as having said based on the same analogy: "The Shiites of Hussain will not forget their mission with the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA)” offered by evil forces.

Subsequently, former Central Bank Governor Abdolnasser Hemmati reminded Ghasemi that he is no longer Iran's oil minister, the post he used to hold under President Ahmadinejad. Other social media users told Ghasemi that as Iran's housing minister he is no position to intervene in the nuclear dossier. Others warned Ghasemi that while the rest of the government is working hard to reach a deal with the United States, he should not speak against an agreement.

In his interview with ILNA, Ansari pointed out that the reactionaries derail government policies with their hollow slogans. This comes while most of the hardliner politicians who belonged to "the concerned group," including ultraconservative lawmaker Javad Karimi Ghoddousi have sometimes paid lip service to a nuclear deal that the hardliners desperately need for lifting US sanctions.

Ansari accused the hardliner group of spreading their hallucinations and superficial ideas about the affairs of the state instead of offering real solutions to the country's problems. At the same time, they try to force others who have a solution out of the political realm.

He said this group which has the upper hand in the current government cannot even solve a problem as simple as providing bread for the nation, charging that lack of coordination among the members of this group and Raisi's economic team has further exacerbated the crisis Iran faces.

"With their wrong policies and lack of coordination those who had promised to solve all of the country's economic problems overnight, and turn Iran into another Japan, have created serious problems and challenges for the nation," Ansari said. He added that "Instead, they have given way to the presence of unqualified individuals in the government and paved the way for corruption, smuggling and offering exclusive concessions to the group's members."

The satellite called Khayyam after a 12th-century Persian polymath sparked controversy last week when The Washington Post quoted two Western security officials as saying that Moscow intends to use the space platform for its war effort in Ukraine.

Iran's Space Agency denied the report on Sunday, saying the satellite will be fully operated and controlled by the Islamic Republic from inside Iran once launched into space by Russia. It said that all operations of Khayyam will be controlled by Iranian engineers and researchers from a space base in Iran immediately after it reaches orbit, adding that data management stations of the satellite are also in Iran.

Iran and Russia are close political and military allies and have fought in Syria in close coordination to save Bashar al-Assad’s government in the decade long civil war in that country.

Western sources have said the surveillance satellite will greatly enhance Tehran’s ability to spy on military targets across the Middle East, including near-continuous monitoring of sensitive facilities in Israel and across the Persian Gulf.

Iran’s homegrown attempts at putting satellites into orbit have largely failed due to its technological limitations, so Russia agreed to build and launch the Kanopus-V Earth-observation satellite that can resolve features as small as 3.9 feet (1.2 meters) on Earth's surface.

US officials in July voiced concern that Iran intended to sell military drones to Russia for deployment in Ukraine, a charge that Tehran has not categorically denied.